CASSIDY
Thursday, December 18th
“Wait, you caught him red-handed?” Madison looked unconvinced, eyebrows raised as she curled her hands around her travel mug of coffee. She’d brought it with her on the walk down from the inn, steam still rising from the lid.
Even though it was late, Cassidy had invited Madison, Zoe, and Kit over for emergency hot chocolate and a Christmas movie. After what had happened with Liam, she needed something, anything, to pull her back into a festive headspace.
The snow had started to fall down in thick, puffy flakes. It wasn’t just flurrying anymore. These flakes were thick and heavy, the kind that stuck to everything they touched. Cassidy watched as they piled on the rooftops and drifted into soft mounds along the sidewalk. It was beautiful, sure, but also the kind of snow that could either turn the town into a winter wonderland or keep people curled up inside. She just hoped it added a little magic to her display—and didn’t scare folks off before tomorrow’s big light-up event.
Madison was wearing soft black leggings, an oversized cable-knit sweater in deep forest green, and cozy wool socks. Kit hadshown up in holiday pajama shorts with gingerbread men on them, even though it was freezing out, and her Team Cassidy sweater. Zoe had brought her peppermint tea with her, along with her fuzzy slippers in the shape of foxes. But Cassidy was probably the coziest of all. She wore her vintage candy-cane-striped pajama pants, a graphic sweatshirt with a reindeer sipping cocoa on the front, and red fuzzy socks. Muff was curled up beside her like a warm blanket.
“I mean, what else was he doing?” Cassidy asked, still stewing.
“Maybe he was telling the truth,” Zoe offered gently. “Maybe he really was just curious,” she said while casually eating popcorn.
“Or sabotaging it,” Cassidy grumbled.
“Do you think he’d do that?” Zoe’s question was directed at Madison.
“No, and Cassidy doesn’t either.” Madison put her mug on the coffee table and gave Cassidy a level stare. “You know he’d never do something like that. You’re just mad about him running away.”
Cassidy didn’t respond. Madison always had a way of cutting to the truth, and Cassidy hated how much it stung. Yes, she was mad. Mad that Liam had pulled away. Mad that he blamed it on her.
She’d been waiting for him to make the first move. And apparently, that first move had been sneaking around her display at night. It rattled her. She was already on edge with all the vandalism. She couldn’t afford to have her hard work ruined before the light-up.
The movie played on in the background, some cutesy couple decorating a tree with matching flannel pajamas and suspiciously perfect hair. Cassidy stared at the screen but wasn’t really watching.
Alright, so it had been her turn to overreact. She could admit that, if only to herself. And she got that Madison was annoyed with her. She probably should’ve thought it through a bit more before she’d invited Liam’s childhood friends over to complain about him.
Cassidy was about to ask the group what she should do next when an alarm cut through the air.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
The security alert on Cassidy’s phone made all four women jump.
Kit spilled her cocoa. Zoe dropped the popcorn bowl. Madison grabbed the remote, fumbling to pause the movie as Cassidy lunged for her phone.
“It’s the camera,” Cassidy said, heart in her throat.
They all rushed to the screen as she pulled up the app.
It felt like forever for the screen to load. For a second, the feed was all shadows and snowfall.
Until…
“Oh, come on,” Kit said, peering over Cassidy’s shoulder. “Is that…?”
“A raccoon,” Madison confirmed.
“Not just one,” Zoe added, counting the number of critters on her screen. “It’s a whole crazy trash panda family.”
On screen, the fuzzy bandits scampered across Cassidy’s front display. Two of them climbed over the edge of her Cocoa & Kisses photo booth, treating it like a jungle gym. Another pawed its way up the side of the window, using the eavestrough like monkey bars.
Muff must have sensed the commotion because a moment later, she started barking like crazy. She ran over and put her paws on the window ledge, barking, pawing at the glass, desperate to chase the intruders away.
Cassidy stared in disbelief as the raccoons tackled her display again. One launched itself from the wooden backdrop to the window ledge and then scurried up onto the roof. Another followed close behind, their tiny claws scrabbling as they disappeared out of sight. In a matter of seconds, they’d unstrung half her lights and almost broken her backdrop.
She shuddered to think what might have happened if Muff hadn’t gone berserk.
